US Customs and Border Protection: 'Human smuggling is the precursor of human trafficking'

In a recent report by Fox News, the Texas DPS recently prevented human smuggling which resulted in the arrest of 13 illegal immigrants. The human smugglers attempted to proceed by way of a private plane at 5 p.m. on Aug. 31 at the South Texas International Airport in Edinburg, TX.

A DPS pilot went to conduct a ramp check on an airplane—a Gulf Stream IV—when he began to believe that “the aircraft was being used in human smuggling,” and that a group of individuals was displaying “some suspicious activity.”

The DPS pilot claims that the group first caught his attention inside the airport. After suspecting foul play, the Texas DPS Officer decided to investigate further.

The officer contacted Maximo Diaz Jorge, who chartered the Gulf Stream. Jorge told the Officer that the group of suspicious individuals were his employees, working at an "oil company traveling to Houston to see a baseball game." The DPS Officer requested ID, and all three suspects ran, driving off in cars filled with illegal immigrants. 

US Customs and Border Protection reports that the on-scene DPS Troopers asked for assistance with the three fleeing suspects before engaging in high-speed chases with two vehicles. Both vehicles “eventually came to a stop” and “multiple people were observed fleeing into the nearby brush.” At this point, both drivers were arrested, both vehicles were seized, and the DPS caught and arrested 13 illegal immigrants from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. 

During Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, Border Patrol Agents encountered four separate migrant smuggling bands—resulting in 30 total arrests in just 2 days. The majority of these arrests were from the Edinburg Airport incident. 

Border Protection prevents over a million migrants from entering each year. Despite this, human smuggling has become more prominent than in previous years. It is also considered a predecessor to more serious crime.

According to the US Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol Agents have made 1.95 million arrests at the southern border in the fiscal year 2022—October 2021 to September 2022—many resulting from smuggling operations. This number exceeds the number of arrests at the southern border last year—1.73 million. 

In a recent interview with The Austin Journal, Texas Public Policy Foundation Policy Scholar Selene Rodriguez asserted that “Human smuggling is the precursor of human trafficking. People who conspire with human smugglers to illegally enter the United States typically incur in thousands of dollars of debt to make the trip. After entering the country illegally, these same people are often forced to pay off that debt through forced labor and sexual exploitation, which is the essence of the modern-day slavery that is human trafficking.”